Far Eastern Lands

For the fourteenth year, I had a reading game in my children’s library last summer. The theme of these games is always geographical, encouraging readers to encounter books they might never otherwise notice and to be exposed to other cultures. After working our way through the Western Hemisphere in previous reading games, we bounced back and forth between Europe and Asia in subsequent games, and this past year we focused on the Far East, specifically Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. These countries are near to each other, have their own complex pasts with each other, and have been both enemies and friends of the United States.

I had always been aware that Japan and the Philippines are island nations—the Philippines has over 7,000 islands and Japan more than 4,000, but I was surprised to learn that Korea also has many islands—over 3,000 in fact. So that is another way in which these countries are related.

I plan to do two columns on books focused on these countries. In this first one, I highlight some prolific Japanese and Korean authors.

Japanese Authors

THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:


Kathie Johnson has always had a love for children's books. She collected many as a teacher and began sharing them with other teachers. In 1986, she opened a children's library in her home, and it has continued to expand over the years. Many home-schooled and schooled children borrow books from it, and she takes great pleasure in finding the "right" book for a child. She attends First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley.

Print &
Online Subscription

Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!

Online
Subscription

Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!

bulk subscriptions

Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.

Transactions will be processed on a secure server.


more from the online archives

33.1—January/February 2020

Surprised by Gentleness

on a Saint's Charism That Cures Toxic Perfectionism by Colleen Carroll Campbell

18.8—October 2005

XXX-Communicated

on Why Pornography Is Not the Sin We Say It Is by Anthony Esolen

26.1—Jan/Feb 2013

The Destroyer of Peace

on Abortion as a Matter of National Welfare by W. Ross Blackburn

calling all readers

Please Donate

"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand

"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor

Support Touchstone

00